It is basically impossible to watch Benefits Street without getting very, very, very angry.

What kind of anger you feel depends on what kind of person you are.

Everyone, of course, will be outraged by the blatant openness of the criminal behaviour on display. Even the least appalling characters seem to live in their own moral universe. Like White Dee, who observes: ‘I think there’s a big, big difference between drugs and a bit of shoplifting.’

Once you get past that base level of open-mouthed shock – which is what makes the show so horribly watchable – you, the viewer, will find your anger developing in different ways.

Ultimately, how people’s reactions differ lies in their political background.

Some will take pity on the poor unfortunates of James Turner Street, who all have some pretty bleak personal stories which have led them all to their present unfortunate states.

They might be outraged that the government isn’t doing more to step in and make life easier for the poorest in society.

Others will grimly point the fingers and condemn those on their screens without a moment’s hesitation.

They’re the ones who are calling on Fungi and Black Dee and all the others to be locked up, or worse.

The horror of all this is most people will take the latter view.

‘They’re just a bunch of skanks,’ I overheard someone down the pub saying.

Simple as that. These are the benefit scroungers of right-wing myth writ large, the kind of stereotype which government press officers dream of.

That is why it’s so important – if such a thing is possible – to take the whole thing with a very large pinch of salt.

The subjects’ complaints that they were ‘tricked’ isn’t unusual, but does start alarm bells ringing.

It just goes to show that however respectful the cameramen can be, when it comes to the editing suite the documentary makers are king.

Their claim is to have made a series of shows which are dispassionate, objective and neutral.

But Benefits Street tells a story which is all in the telling. There’s a balance between showing someone who has apparently just nicked a can of lager from a shop and presenting the context of their backstory. Does this show really strike the right balance?

A much better example, I’d argue, was last year’s BBC effort from The Apprentice’s Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford.

Their show – which brought benefit claimants and taxpayers face to face – was far more revealing. And it showed people – some people, at least – could change.

Benefits Street doesn’t do that. It shows a group of people stuck in despair with no way out.

Regardless of what kind of angry you get when you watch it, you have to agree there are better reasons for making television programmes than merely showing ‘a bunch of skanks’ with nowhere to go.

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